Dreams and Nightmares
by AhiFlame
Summary: Dreams can be dangerous things. Especially when they slip into the realm of nightmares. JackAna. One-Shot. COMPLETE.


**DISCLAIMER: I don't own PotC; I can only dream…erm…maybe that wasn't the best way to phrase it given the topic of this little story…**

**Dreams and Nightmares**

Life is riddled with good and bad, joy and sadness…dreams and nightmares. And at this point in his life he wasn't sure which it was. A dream or a nightmare?

If anyone were to glimpse in on his current situation they would agree on the latter without a second thought. He was caught, sitting in a dark cell and awaiting his death to come with the next dawn. But for Captain Jack Sparrow the time passed numbly as if he were only witnessing his demise in a dream.

As he thought back on his life, only half-awake, he reminisced on the good times he had captaining his beloved _Pearl_ and spending time with his first mate and lover, Anamaria. A slow smirk unconsciously spread across his face and he relaxed back against the wall with his hat pulled down over his eyes as the comforting memories faded into his subconscious thoughts.

So many times had he awakened before dawn and spent the morning in the rigging of his ship and watched the sunrise. And so often Ana had joined him, making the moment absolutely perfect. And then the happy couple would watch the sunset in the same manner and remain where they were for a good time with the stars, moon, ocean, and presence of the _Black Pearl_ as their only companions.

_But where is that perfection now?_

Jack started and pushed the hat away from his eyes. After realizing that he was alone in the cellblocks he decided to disregard the strange voice. After all, he had no regrets. His legend would live on and he would keep playing it out until his last breath and continue it in the afterlife.

With his spirit resolved the ex-pirate captain resettled himself into his previous position, pushing his hat down to shield his eyes from the flickering candlelight. He once again began drifting into a quiet slumber, unperturbed by the eerie silence in the cellblocks.

Without his conscious knowledge the ever-changing colored lights that danced across the inside of his eyelids formed themselves into an all-too-familiar surrounding: his cabin aboard the _Black Pearl_. Ana lay sleeping soundly on the bed and Jack found himself standing just inside the closed cabin door. Moonlight streamed in from the cabin windows and cast an eerie illumination throughout the small space that sent a chill down Jack's spine. For him moonlight only conjured horrific memories of fighting Barbossa when both captains were under the Aztec curse.

Jack would never forget that feeling.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, could be worse than feeling and yet not feeling the empty coldness that the curse imposed on its victims. Just the thought made Jack shiver violently and he forced himself to cross to the bed, being sure to take the path that cut through the moonlight.

As he entered the beam of blue-tinted illumination that belonged to the night alone he sensed more than felt a change. Of what, he was unsure.

Shoving his trepidation to the back of his mind, he crossed to the bed and carefully laid down beside Ana. She moaned quietly in her sleep and snuggled up to his body as he wrapped his arms protectively around her.

"Jack," she mumbled, barely half-awake.

"Yes luv?"

"Why are ye so cold?"

Jack's eyebrows pinched in confusion at her words. Was he cold? If he was, he surely couldn't feel it. In fact, he couldn't feel much of anything. Not even Ana lying peacefully in his arms…

Jack's eyes widened in horror and he carefully untangled himself from Ana and the sheets. He crossed back across the cabin, unconsciously avoiding the moonlight, and began pacing as his mind traveled at a mile a minute, running through all possibilities.

_Face it Jack, you're cursed again. But this time it's a curse of your own making._

Jack froze in mid-step and looked wildly about the cabin. Only Ana, who had fallen back asleep, was there with him. Odd.

'_Where are you?_' Jack ventured, asking not with his mouth but with his mind.

_Why, I am here. I am part of you, Captain Jack Sparrow._

Jack was dumbfounded. Essentially a 'part of him' had just told him that he had multiple personalities, one of which was obviously very morbid.

'_Interesting._'

_Isn't it? But I still find it more interesting that Anamaria has something that you can never have. And it makes you jealous._

Jack bristled and the other voice seemed to take joy in that fact. '_And what would that be?_'

_Friends. Life. The ability to **feel**._

Jack bristled further to the point where a twitch which he could not silence developed in his lip. '_I've got friends an' I've got the **Pearl**, she's all the life I could want. I also have my freedom-_'

_But not the ability to feel it. Or anything for that matter. You are incapable of feeling emotions other than hate and jealousy and pain. You cannot feel love._

'_Can too! I love Ana!_'

_I'm sure you do but you've locked that part of yourself away from the world. Away from people whom you **know** you can dare to love and trust. You just won't. And that's why you hate them; they have what you will not allow yourself to have. So go on, take your 'opportune moment'; it's here. Either tell Ana how you really feel or take away her self-appointed privilege. You've cursed yourself and now the time has come to break that curse in one of two ways._

'_Name one solution._' Jack dared, thinking this would surely win his internal struggle.

_Tell Ana how you really feel; let your emotions show._

'_Now tha's asking for trouble, mate._'

_Then you have only one other choice._

'_Do tell._'

_Remove the problems._ The voice caught onto Jack's confused hesitation and pressed onward. _Let's start by identifying the people who caused you to curse yourself, shall we? First it was Bootstrap's son, Will. Then his true love, Elizabeth. And finally, the biggest problem of them all with whom you share all your time but never your love: Anamaria. And now that we've identified the issues, we know how to deal with them._

'_We do?_' Jack hoped his feigned obtuseness would derail the other voice's twisted reasoning that he felt so strongly pulling at his own dark heart.

_Yes. We must kill them._

'_I won't! They're my friends and Ana's my…_'

_Go on, say it! I dare you!_

Jack's hope of winning this struggle was crushed as he found himself completely unable to admit that he loved Ana; even to himself.

_I thought so. Now do what you **know** you must!_

Jack was too drawn down by his realization of his self-curse to resist as his body moved of its own volition back over to the bed. He didn't even fight—he barely noticed—as hands, his hands, wrapped tightly around Ana's neck and squeezed, cutting off her airway. He was too dejected to care about her desperate struggling and choked pleas. He only knew she was dead when the voice spoke again.

_There, all is as it should be. But now we must remedy the two problems back in Port Royal._

_zozozozozzzozozozozozozozozoz_

"Come on Jack, come on, don't do this…" Ana whispered vehemently as she struggled against her fevered captain, ignoring the sweat that dripped from her brow. She kept her hand firmly planted on his jaw and fought to bring his head around so she could get at least some liquid between his lips. For him being so ill, he was certainly as strong as ever.

With a wild jerk of his head, Jack managed to slip free of her grasp. "_Jack!_" Ana hissed, her patience spent. She had a good mind to slap some sense into him but when she realized that his fever-glazed chocolate eyes were open and locked on her gaze her anger melted. "Jack," she breathed, shoving loose strands of hair behind her ear.

"'na?" His tone was quiet and confused, slurred heavily by his illness.

"Aye Jack, I'm here."

His eyes grew slightly less focused as he fought the wave of fatigue that washed over him, but he tried his best to keep his speech even. "'na, I…"

"Go ahead Jack, I'm listening," Ana said reassuringly as she placed a gentle hand on one side of his face and tried to hide her concern over the blazing heat that emanated from his tanned skin.

Only half-conscious, Jack leaned into the warm feeling of Ana's hand. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, taking comfort in her presence. He had to fight hard against the darkness but he managed to open his hazy eyes again and meet her gaze. Ana saw something deep in his eyes that she had never seen before and it took her breath away. She knew what Jack was about to say before he said it just from the look in his eyes.

"I…love ye."

Ana smiled as tears pricked at her eyes. "I love you too, you crazy pirate. But rest now, you'll need your strength." As Jack dropped back into the darkness the ghost of a smile settled on his features.

He had conquered his nightmare and turned it back into a dream.


End file.
